“You have to hunt for them a little more. It’s not as easy as it has been.

“But there’s lots of fish out there.”

Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist, has a similar report for Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal).

“The Big Quilcene River is currently between runs,” he said.

“The early coho run is winding down pretty quickly and the regular coho run is just starting to arrive, so fishing is slow for bright fish unless you just happen to be on the river or on [Quilcene] Bay when a large, fresh school arrives.

“Fishing should pick up pretty quickly in the next ten days.”

In Marine Area 5 (Sekiu), though, the coho fishery is still doing well.

Salmon off Sekiu will eventually head east, as long as they don’t end up on someone’s dinner table first.